Conn Smythe Watch: Giroux No. 1

Philly's soaring superstar is tops, with a rookie netminder close behind

AP Photo/Matt SlocumClaude Giroux has been a remarkable force in the 2012 playoffs.

Each year, the Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just like in the regular season with the Player Power Rankings, Hockey Prospectus will use its metric analysis to measure which postseason player is most deserving of the coveted award.

These rankings are based on player production in terms of Hockey Prospectus' GVT valuation metric. This is not a subjective evaluation of these players and combines an array of statistics to assess a player's contributions to his team. If you are unfamiliar with GVT and how it works, you can find more here.

For the past two seasons Hockey Prospectus has nailed the ultimate playoff MVP (Jonathan Toews in 2010, Tim Thomas in 2011) using this formula. As the Conn Smythe Watch returns for the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, we see several of the postseason's biggest names atop the list.

As the playoffs progress, players will be removed from the list as their team is eliminated. However, to properly show their postseason impact, we will include eliminated players for at least one installment after their elimination. Also, for those who followed our Player Power Rankings during the regular season, for the postseason we have grouped the skaters and goalies together, since they will all be competing for the same ultimate prize -- the Conn Smythe Trophy.

To see how all the postseason players stack up, you must be an ESPN Insider.